An extremely thorough instructable, and a fascinating subject. I feel however, that you're limiting your audience somewhat by mainly focusing on a 3D printed top (you do mention the possibility of making it out of wood near the end). The design of the top seems quite straightforward to me, and I'm sure there are many ways the DIY'er will be able to construct it in other ways than printing.

Nice design, and it seems a formidable ring light! Just one thought: I'm sure the main design could also be cut out by hand using an electric jigsaw and working carefully. The holes can drilled with the appropriate size spade or Forstner drill bit.

I also used the SimplySpeakers kit to replace the 4 woofers on a pair of Wharfedale speakers (only 10 years old in my case). I could not believe how good they sounded after the repair! How do your's sound now?

Congratulations! I like the old console look! I also like to work with subgrade ply because it is so cheap, and is about the only ply I can buy where I live. I've found that a solution for a somewhat better appearance is gluing a strip of solid wood to the edges of the ply that will be visible. That helps to give the appearance of solid wood.

ShonJ1, I'm sure you're right. It does not turn very fast, except in strong winds, but it seems to generate good torque, even at low speeds.

ward1955, I'm also going to put up some more just for the looks.

Thanks Charles! You're of course quite right about horizontal designs. This design was however driven by how easy soda bottles could be implemented.

My thoughts: I think there's no question that you'll get better performance higher up, but at some stage you'll have to take robustness into account. This was designed more for ease of build and recycling of used soda bottles than durability. One way of making it stronger would be to extend the centre shaft so that the bottles' tops can also be attached to it directly. But if one begins to change the design that much, it's maybe time to think about starting with sturdier materials/design in the first place.

This is a turbine in the sense that it generates useful mechanical power thanks to its blades rotating in the wind. The resulting power can indeed be used to generate a small amount of electrical energy by adding a small generator, or driving a small mechanical device. That's why I gave it good quality bearings, as well as a threaded driveshaft. I'm glad however that you find it visually attractive.

Thanks, Yonatan24, Yes, it works really well, and setting it up is extremely fast. When I build another one, I'll also fit a lock screw on the side, for instances when heavy vibration could possibly lead to the wedge moving.

I agree with you. I think it depends on how wet the wood is. If bone dry, a few seconds should be enough, and too long a time would certainly damage the oven because the energy is not absorbed. But if the wood contains any moisture, it would be difficult to time the procedure. Fine Woodworking gives this warning to woodturners who dry wood in microwave ovens: "Never ever ever microwave wood for longer than a minute at a time. Wood combusts very easily, and WILL catch on fire in your microwave if you are not careful." May something between 15 and 30 seconds should be safe, depending on the power of the oven and the size of the wood?

And to add to that, taking it out every 10 seconds while microwaving to see how hot it is, should give one a kind of safety measure.

I did think long and hard about it, and since it is used on similar levels about everywhere these days, even by politicians etc, I decided to take a chance. But if you think it is offending, I'll gladly change the title, because it's in any case not my usual style.